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AHL Hershey Bears

Game Preview: Final Road Trip of Season Starts Tonight in Charlotte

April 7, 2018 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


(Charlotte, NC)-The Hershey Bears visit the Bojangles' Coliseum tonight to battle the Charlotte Checkers for the first of two straight games this weekend. The club's will also meet tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Charlotte in Hershey's final road game of the 2017-18 season. A win over Hershey tonight for Charlotte would clinch the Checkers a spot in the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs.

Hershey Bears (29-34-4-5) at Charlotte Checkers (42-26-1-3)

Saturday, April 7, 2018, 6 p.m.

Bojangles' Coliseum

RADIO: WQIC-100.1 FM, Fox Sports 1460-AM, WOYK-1350 AM

LISTEN LIVE: Fox Sports AM-1460 Stream

WATCH LIVE: AHLLive.com

LAST TIME OUT: The Hershey Bears dropped their final visit of the season to the Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday in a 5-3 defeat to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Anthony Peluso and Mathias Bau scored in the third period to pull Hershey within one, but Jean-Sebastien Dea sealed the game with an empty netter in the final seconds. Vitek Vanecek was dealt the loss in relief after entering in the second period for Pheonix Copley. The Charlotte Checkers earned a two-game sweep of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this week, winning 3-1 on Tuesday, and 6-1 on Wednesday at the Bojangles' Coliseum. In Wednesday's game, Andrew Poturalski had two goals and Nicolas Roy had a goal and three assists. Callum Booth made 30 saves between the pipes for the Checkers.

SEASON SERIES SUCCESS: The Chocolate and White have beaten no other team more this regular season than the Charlotte Checkers. Hershey enters today with a 4-2-0-0 record in the previous six meetings against Charlotte, with three of those victories coming at Giant Center. The Bears have only matched their success against Charlotte with the Hartford Wolf Pack, also beating them four times in six tries this season. In the season series against the Checkers, Hershey has been exceptional on the power play, going 7-for-23 (30.4%). Tonight's expected starter, Vitek Vanecek, is 3-0-0-0 vs. the Checkers this season with a 2.63 goals against average.

LET ME BE YOUR HERO: Despite Hershey's success against Charlotte in the current season series, they will be without two of their top three series point-getters. Riley Barber's season is over with an upper-body injury, and he led the season series with seven points (six goals, one assist) versus the Checkers. Travis Boyd (three goals, two assists) is second in line, but is currently on recall to the Washington Capitals. Among active and healthy players, Tyler Graovac takes the cake as top scorer in the season series with two goals and three helpers in six games. Nathan Walker has missed the last three games due to injury, but traveled with the club to Charlotte. In four appearances against the Checkers, Walker has also posted five points (one goal, four assists).

GOALS IN BUNCHES: In the first six games on the season series between Hershey and Charlotte, blowouts and high-scoring affairs have been typical. The last time Hershey visited the Bojangles' Coliseum for consecutive days in December, Hershey jumped out to a 5-0 first period lead and went on to eventually win the game 5-4 on Dec. 20. The next night, Charlotte responded with six unanswered from start to finish leading to a 6-0 Checkers win on Dec. 21. Hershey posted five goals for a second time in the season series for a 5-1 win on Jan. 6, and swept the weekend tilt the next night with a shutout of their own, winning 3-0. In early February, Hershey won a thrilling 6-5 shootout decision behind three power play goals on Feb. 3, only to surrender five early goals the next day and drop a 5-2 decision on Super Sunday.

BAU DOWN TO MATHIAS: Forward Mathias Bau has three goals in the previous two games for the Chocolate and White. The 6-foot-7 left winger snapped a 23-game goalless drought by scoring twice against the Laval Rocket in a 6-3 win on March 31. Before then, Bau's last goal came on Dec. 29 at the Springfield Thunderbirds. In his first professional season, the Denmark native has skated in 54 games and has posted 12 goals and 10 assists.

BEARS-CHECKERS FAST FACTS: Charlotte is expecting to be without goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic this weekend due to injury...Connor Hobbs is coming off the first multi-point game of his career on Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Once a scoring correction is made, he will have finished that evening with three points (one goal, two assists)...Goaltender Adam Carlson was once again re-assigned to Hershey from Kansas City (ECHL). He is not on the trip to Charlotte, but will remain with Hershey for the remainder of the regular season...Aleksi Saarela has nine points (seven goals, two assists) in the season series vs. Hershey, while Nicolas Roy has six points, all assists...Hershey assistant coach Ryan Murphy and associate goaltending coach Alex Westlund were both players for the Charlotte Checkers during the club's ECHL days.

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